IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 22 April
22-04-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
IBM to seek Irish redundancies | eBay sees profit and revenue jump
The Irish Times reports that IBM has told staff at its Dublin technology campus that it is seeking a number of voluntary redundancies. IBM is not saying how many staff it is looking to shed, but it is understood about 200 staff may leave IBM under the scheme. The move follows the completion of the transfer of high-end server manufacturing to Singapore from Dublin.
The Irish Examiner writes about footage of a GAA referee being assaulted on the pitch during a hurling game, which attracted 14,000 views on YouTube before it was taken off the site. It was put back up onto the site hours later under a different name. Gardai and the GAA are looking into the incident.
According to the Wall Street Journal, eBay has posted first quarter income of USD397.6 million, or USD0.30 a share, up 11 percent from USD357.1 million, or USD0.28, in the year-earlier period. Revenue was USD2.2 billion, an increase of 9 percent from USD2.02 billion in 2009. On the back of an increase in consumer spending eBay said it now expects second-quarter profit to increase between 9 percent and 15 percent while revenue would grow between 11 percent and 14 percent.
The paper also reports that Visa is to acquire CyberSource, a provider of electronic-payment security services to online merchants, for USD2 billion. "Online commerce continues to grow rapidly, and this acquisition will enable Visa to offer new and enhanced services that will better meet the growing demand among merchants globally for robust, secure online payment processing capabilities which in turn will grow the entire e-commerce category," said Visa Chairman and CEO Joseph W. Saunders. The deal is expected to close in the quarter to end of September 2010.
The same paper writes that in a somewhat ironic move, e-tailing giant Amazon has partnered with bricks and mortar store Target to sell its e-reader device, the Kindle. Target will become the first offline channel through which Amazon will sell the device. Other e-book readers such as Sony's Reader, Barnes & Noble's Nook and Apple's iPad are all for sale at retail outlets.
The Financial Times says that Facebook has launched "social plugins" that embed its social networking service more deeply inside third-party websites. The plugins are part of an "Open Graph" strategy announced on Wednesday by Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive, at Facebookâs f8 developer conference in San Francisco. Open Graph will be launched with 30 partners in categories from books and movies to celebrities and athletes. Facebook users visiting these sites will be able to click a "Like" button on stories they want to share with friends and see pop-up windows showing friends who had also liked something.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 